DEVOTION: Psalm 119:9-16 (ESV)

9 How can a young man keep his way pure?By guarding it according to your word.10 With my whole heart I seek you;let me not wander from your commandments!11 I have stored up your word in my heart,that I might not sin against you.12 Blessed are you, O Lord;teach me your statutes!13 With my lips I declareall the rules of your mouth.14 In the way of your testimonies I delightas much as in all riches.15 I will meditate on your preceptsand fix my eyes on your ways.16 I will delight in your statutes;I will not forget your word.

YESTERDAY"S QUIZ Who was Moses' successor as leader of Israel? Joshua (Thanks Don!)

TODAY'S QUIZ: How did the Gibeonites trick Joshua?

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NEWS:

ALL OF OUR PARENTS AND KIDS WANT TO THANK EVERYONE WHO CAME TO THE STEAK DINNER/AUCTION!!!

Totals will be announced today or tomorrow, but the estimate is right around $9,000 at this time. Youth will be going to Corpus Christi, TX July 8-13 and we are already gearing up for our triannual National Youth Gathering that will be in Minneapolis, MN in July 2019.

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ORDER YOUR EASTER LILLIES!!!

Easter is just three weeks away! Order your Easter lilies by signing up on the sheet in the narthex or calling Terry in the office at 456-2888.

Worship--This year during our Lenten worship we're going to do something different. We will be doing an interactive message time in which we will all formulate our own versions of the "Gospel in seven words".

If someone were to come to you and ask you to tell them what you believe in seven words or less, what would you say? In this fast paced, information age, you may not have much more than that to get the Gospel out to someone. How would you respond to that request?

I am very excited to see how we come up with our conclusions and what our extremely concise profession and confessions of faith will look like! You'll have to join us on Wednesday to find out what it's all about!!

If you want to help out the Pregnancy Option Center but don't have the funds to do so, there is another way to help. Their major fundraising banquet is Thursday, April 5 and they are in need of servers and others to help in all different sorts of ways. There will be a training the day before if you can make it and I can get you the info on that after you volunteer. You'll need to be there about 5 on Thursday, and we'd like you to wear black pants or skirt and white shirt/blouse so that you can be identified as a helper that night.

WE ARE CHANGING THE WAY WE EDUCATE OUR KIDS AND GROW THEM IN THE FAITH AT ST.JOHN'S!!

THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS TO GROW CHILDREN IN THE FAITH

Parents must be involved and take ownership of the faith formation of their children. Gone are the days of just dropping yourkids off at Sunday school so that "the church" can teach them the faith. I don't know about you, but I learned how to live the faith from my parents the most.

The church must be a supplement, help, and encouragement to the parents (not the primary source of faith formation).

To help parents in their duties as the primary growers of the faith of their children we are going to start two new programs at St. John's.

1. The first is called Faith5. This is a very simple yet profound thing that families will learn to do together in their own homes each night/day. The basics are very simple. It can be done whenever the family can all get together. The example I'm going to use is right before bed, so the first one to want to go to sleep calls the huddle. The family then gets together in the bedroom of the person who called the huddle, at the kitchen table, or wherever, and they do these five things

1. Share- Each person shares the highs and Lows of the day

2. Read- Bible reading or Story

3. Talk- Application of reading to the day

4. Pray- Pray about the day

5. Blessing- A kiss, a hug, a benediction

Although this sounds simple, we want to get the most out of the very short amount of time we have with our kids. We also always want to be better parents, especially when it comes to the faith upbringing of our kids, so we will have a Faith5 Training for parents beginning on Sunday, April 15 during Sunday school time at 9:45. PLEASE SIGN UP WITH PASTOR FOR THIS TRAINING!!!! It will be done on Sunday, May 27.

2.The second is called Bible Song Cross Gen. It is called this, because every lesson revolves around a Bible song that coincides with the lesson for the week. It will begin on WEDNESDAY, MAY 30 AND WILL BE EVERY WEDNESDAY FROM 6pm-7pm. Parents are strongly encouraged to stay with their children.

Here is the schedule:

6:00-6:20-- Bible Song, Skit, and Story

6:20-6:50—Family Group Time (Practicing Faith5 in a church family setting)

6:50-7- Closing

As with any good church program volunteers are key! We need people to step up and take ownership of this program to make it successful! Here are somethings we will need:

1. Parents stay with kids!!

2. Skit Group (3 or 4) (Sign Up to volunteer to help)

3. Art attack coordinators (2 or 3) (Sign Up with Pastor to volunteer to help)

4. Group Leaders (2 or 3) (Sign Up with Pastor to volunteer to help)

3.What are we gonna do with Sunday school?

For the most part, it is going to go away, but For parents who still want some adult Bible study time, or just want to get out and do grocery shopping without kids, we'll have a very unstructured and informal time on Sunday mornings. (Play time, videos, Bible story book.) Like all the rest of this stuff, it will only be as good as those who take ownership. Right now, Karin Klaustermeier and Naomi Johnson are the only ones who lead your kids on Sunday mornings. It would be good to get two or three more trusted adults to lead this, and then each person would only have to do it once a month. (A big shout out should also go to Torre Statler and Taryn Linke for doing a Bible study with the high school kids when they show up.)

RETIREMENT SEMINARS SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY, APRIL 3 AND TUESDAY APRIL 24 AT 6PM!!

Denny Hagan from Eldercare Associates will be here on April 3 to talk about Identity protection and Asset preservation. And then again on April 24 to talk about Social Security. ICE CREAM WILL BE SERVED!!

Please sign up on the counter in the narthex or call the church office to let us know you will be there.

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OFFERING ENVELOPES ARE ON THE SHELVES UNDERNEATH THE CHURCH MAILBOXES IN THE NARTHEX IF YOU HAVEN'T PICKED THEM UP YET!

For TONI MAUCH who is having her other hip replaced on Monday, March 12.

For BILL MCKENZIE, (Terry McKenzie's father in law), who is home from the hospital and has been placed on hospice.

For DENISE HOOKER (Betty Tameler's daughter), GEORGE HOESCHER, GINA BOHNING (Roy Bohning's wife), and BUCK HAMPTON, as they continue to deal with cancer.

PRAYERS FOR OUR MILITARY PERSONNEL:

For COLTON FIGURA deployed to Turkey, SAM HARGROVE deployed in Kuwait and DAN DREYER deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, that the Lord would keep them safe from harm during their service and bring them home safely.

For DAVID TATE stationed in Japan, and ALEX WALTERS, stationed in Tennessee. That God would bless their service to our country and keep them safe as they all await possible deployment.

For CALEB FIGURA AND VINCE MASTERS who are both serving our country in the National Guard and take time out of their lives, jobs, and families to go on duty several times a year.

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Mission Statement

The mission of St. John's Lutheran Church is to preach the Word of God in its purity and to teach this Word to all people. We do so through the means God has given us, the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.

What We Believe

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod accepts the Scriptures as the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and subscribes unconditionally to all the symbolical books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a true and unadulterated statement and exposition of the Word of God.

We accept the Confessions because they are drawn from the Word of God and on that account regard their doctrinal content as a true and binding exposition of Holy Scripture and as authoritative for all pastors, congregations and other rostered church workers of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.